Nuance

[rucky]

Let's discuss nuance - in a nuanced sort of way.

[ewagner]

1. Articles of Liberalism

There are no absolutes

One size does NOT fit all

Competing ideas have equal weight

[GreenArrow]

3. two points

"there are no absolutes" is an absolute itself, thus contradictory.

"Competing ideas have equal weight." But they do not necessarily have equal worth.

[Fovea]

4. there are no absolutes

and all generalizations are bad!

):-)

[tobius]

9. "contradictory" is judgemental- not allowed nt

[ewagner]

10. hehehe

ya caught it

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

12. ideas have no mass, therefore

no weight! :)

[asthmaticeog]

6. Whose articles are those?

There are, in fact, absolutes. People, without exception, die. Pretty important absolute to keep in mind, especially in a time when our government has just used its military might to reduce two sovereign nations to spent match-heads.

I'm with you on the second one.

Competing ideas do not have equal weight. That's why we have the rules of argument (logic) and epistemology - to determine which of any given number competing ideas has the highest truth-value. Let's say competing ideas DO have equal weight - then the utterly rancid, brutal reppression of dissent in some Asian nations is valid, because "it's their culture and we should respect that." Excrement. Also, the assertion that competing ideas have equal weight sounds suspiciously like an absolute to me - the bad kind, as it stifles inquiry and discussion, and ignores nuance.

Those sound more like articles of academic post-structuralism than of liberalism. And while deconstruction can be a useful analytical tool, taking its tenets as gospel is anti-rational. It's also one-size-fits-all thinking, which contradicts your second assertion.

Edit: spelling

[BL_Zebub]

2. Nuance my pointy tailed ass!

I see a lot of people here continue to eat breakfast at Kerry's Internationalist House of Waffles. :eyes:

[Monte Carlo]

8. Well then...

... let me just say that there are those who might look down their nose at you, too.

[PurityOfEssence]

5. People are terrified of thinking and qualification, hence religion

People would rather be torn limb from limb than admit that they're ignorant, and they spend their whole lives shoring up idiotic assumptions just to keep the evil of uncertainty at bay.

To grant any virtue to the enemy is tantamount to treason, and to attribute any failing to allies is heresy.

Couple this with the hypocritical demand to be treated better than others, and much nastiness can be explained.

The infamous "Bubble Lady", the street poetess Julia Vinograd of Berkeley, should best be remembered for pointing out that we're all oppressed minorities.

And of course, these fatuous, absolute pronouncements of mine are absolutely true and without the slightest exception.

Dammit.

[Monte Carlo]

7. Absolutes are fine...

... but in this life, all we have are perceptions. Politics is all about these perceptions, and a little nuanced language helps to contain them.

[Guaranteed]

11. It's not taking a position. nt

[legin]

13. legin disolves into a fit of semi-hysterical giggling n/t